FORT WORTH, TEXAS (February 17, 2008) The No. 63 TCU men’s tennis team toppled 31st-ramked Texas Tech on Sunday by a score of 4-3 to remain unbeaten on the season. The win improved the Horned Frogs to 8-0 overall, while the Red Raiders suffered their first loss to drop to 5-1 on the season.
“I felt the doubles point was the key to the match, and to be able to win it without getting the win at the top position is a definite strength,” said TCU head coach Dave Borelli. “I still think we could have played better in some of the singles matches, but a win is a win, and it’s nice to start getting the program back up to where it needs to be.”
The Frogs faced a tough task in doubles play, as the top two teams for Texas Tech entered the day ranked 10th and 11th nationally. The undefeated TCU duo of Zach Nichols and Jack Seider cruised at the No. 3 position, posting an 8-2 victory over Lenoir Ramos and Ilya Babinciuc.
After the 44th-ranked TCU duo of Kriegler Brink and Cosmin Cotet fell to the No. 10 team of Christian Rojmar and Bojan Szumanski at the top position, the Horned Frog duo of Emanu Brighiu and Adrian Simon pulled the upset with an 8-5 win over the No. 11 pair of Michael Breler and Sinisa Markovic to clinch the crucial doubles point.
The Frogs got off to a slow start in singles play, dropping matches at the No. 2 and No. 6 positions to fall behind 2-1.
Nichols, a freshman from Austin, Texas, pushed his record to 8-0 this season with a victory over Babinciuc at the No. 5 slot to even the match at 2-2. Nichols won the first set by a score of 7-6(3), and trailed 3-0 in the second set before reeling off six consecutive games to earn the victory.
Cotet, ranked 27th nationally, suffered his first loss of the season to No. 50 Szumanski, but TCU’s Brighiu answered with a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Ramos at the No. 3 position to push the match to 3-3.
The match came down to the No. 4 singles position between TCU’s Brink and Texas Tech’s Rojmar. With Brink trailing 4-1 in the third set, the junior stormed back to win five consecutive games and seal the victory for the Frogs.
TCU will return the courts on Saturday at 2 p.m. to host No. 57 Minnesota.
No. 63 TCU (8-0) def. No. 31 Texas Tech (5-1), 4-3
SINGLES
1. No. 50 Bojan Szumanski (TT) def. No. 27 Cosmin Cotet (TCU) 6-4, 6-3
2. Sinisa Markovic (TT) def. No. 54 Adrian Simon (TCU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Emanu Brighiu (TCU) def. Lenoir Ramos (TT) 6-3, 7-6(5)
4. Kriegler Brink (TCU) def. Christian Rojmar (TT) 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
5. No. 94 Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Ilya Babinciuc (TT) 7-6(3), 6-3
6. Michael Breler (TT) def. Jack Seider (TCU) 6-4, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 5, 1, 3, 4*
DOUBLES
1. No. 10 Rojmar/Szumanski (TT) def. No. 44 Brink/Cotet (TCU) 8-2
2. Brighiu/Simon (TCU) def. No. 11 Breler/Markovic (TT) 8-5
3. Nichols/Seider (TCU) def. Babinciuc/Ramos (TT) 8-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2*
*Clinching point
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